We had a free morning today, so headed into Hertfordshire and a visit to St Albans. All was going well until we tried to park the car. The parking meter wasn't working and the phone number they asked us to ring was proving very frustrating, so after downloading yet another parking app we could eventually walk out to Verulamium Lake. We had been told that the Yellow-browed Warbler had been seen again this morning in an Oak tree on the west side of the lake. We followed their directions "Walk along the west side of the lake and where the lake narrows there's a Willow tree on the water's edge, opposite that is the Oak tree the warbler was in" Unfortunately there was no sign of the bird when we arrived. We spent the next hour searching all the bushes and trees in the area, but there was still no sign. We had been talking to Rupert E the original finder, and as he started a circuit of the lake he called to say he had found it!
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| Yellow-browed Warbler |
St Albans Cathedral was very close, We had been told that a Black Redstart had been showing at the west end of the Cathedral, and sure enough, it appeared within a small dark diamond-shaped vent within the tallest window underneath the cross. It had seemingly entered through a small broken pane and was according to locals feeding on Ladybird Larvae. This is probably the same bird we saw in January of the previous year feeding around the picnic area.
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| St Albans Cathedral |
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| The dark diamond-shaped vent at the top |
We had some time left and decided to visit Lemsford Springs. The 4 Hectare Nature Reserve is known for its Watercress beds, and the lagoons are fed by springs, so they never freeze in harsh weather. We met the warden Barry at the gate and gave him a small donation before heading along the track to the In Focus Hide. We were hoping to see Jack Snipe, and Barry had told us there was one on-site. We saw four Green Sandpipers which were very vocal, five Common Snipe, and a single Grey Wagtail. Eventually, we managed to locate the Jack Snipe, helped by a Green Sandpiper that walked into the channel it had been hiding behind.
All three target birds we set out to see this morning were seen, and the year list moves to 127.
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